Auguste Rodin was born in Paris on 12 November 1840 and is considered a founder of modern sculpture. Rejected three times by the École des Beaux-Arts, he trained at an applied arts school in Paris and in various studios and workshops, and gained public attention and his own commissions only in his late thirties.
He is known for the expressive physicality of works such as The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais, the Monument to Balzac and The Gates of Hell, which includes the figure later known as The Thinker. Many of his sculptures were criticised as unfinished, but he refused to change his style. He died at Meudon on 17 November 1917.